Grant sought for revised Willow Brook Centre war memorial plan

Artist's impression of how Bradley Stoke's new war memorial will look.

The group behind a plan to create a war memorial out of the two granite posts in the Town Square at the Willow Brook Centre has applied for a £3k grant towards an alternative “standalone stone memorial of contemporary design”.

The move comes five months after the original plans, which involved mounting black plaques onto the existing granite posts, were ridiculed in the national press because no resident of the town has been killed in military action, with a headline on the BBC Bristol website describing it as a memorial “for those yet to die”.

A group calling itself the Friends of Bradley Stoke War Memorial, fronted by Katherine Robinson of the 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group and Cllr Ben Walker (UKIP, Bradley Stoke North), has submitted an application for funding from South Gloucestershire Council’s Southern Brooks Area Forum, which meets in Winterbourne on Tuesday evening (26th November).

On its grant application form, the group states:

“The memorial will be designed for people to be able to reflect and remember not just the fallen from our armed services but, anyone they wish to remember.”

“It will also serve as the focal point to an annual remembrance parade, organised by the Friends and the 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group, to remember and teach the younger generations about conflicts which our servicemen & women have played a part in.”

According to the application form, the Willow Brook Centre has pledged to contribute £3k to the project.

In a Bradley Stoke Journal online reader poll conducted in September and asking: “Should Bradley Stoke have a war memorial, even though nobody from the town has died in military conflict?”, 68% of the 294 respondents said ‘no’.

At a meeting in July, town councillors in Bradley Stoke agreed to “support the Scouts in the concept of some form of stone or memorial to remember the fallen”, but they stopped short of endorsing the Town Square at the Willow Brook Centre as a suitable location for it, with several members suggesting that a quieter location elsewhere in the town should be considered.

Image: Artist’s impression of the originally-proposed war memorial.

Two other Bradley Stoke community organisations are also hoping to be awarded grants at the area forum meeting on Tuesday.

Bradley Stoke Radio is seeking a £5k grant to purchase and equip an ‘outside events support trailer’, which would accommodate both sound and broadcast equipment.

On its grant application form, the group explains:

“The provision of a semi-permanent outside event unit which can be towed into position and then opened allowing rapid access to radio presenters’ ability to host outside broadcasts and ensuring safety and improving reliability of equipment. Setting up and taking back and restoring can take up to four hours and this time and energy spent can be saved to enable more outside broadcasts as well as helping the volunteers who man the shows.”

Incredible Kids, a locally-based charity whose aims are to provide play and support services to families with a child with a disability or additional need, is asking for revenue funding of £11,500 p.a. over two years to pay for two playworkers and make a contribution towards room hire.

More info: Agenda for the area forum meeting on 26th November

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7 comments

  1. Really tasteful! I mean how ridiculous!!! What is wrong with the people of Bradley Stoke? Will the supporters of this memorial be willing HM Forces personnel to die so that they can fill their memorial? Pointless!

  2. A difficult subject I know but Bradley Stoke is not the first “new town” to have differing opinions on whether a war memorial should be built. After years of struggle residents of part of Milton Keynes have just completed their new war memorial (http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/local/new-memorial-to-honour-our-heroes-1-5596695).
    If we are to have one I would rather it placed on the edge of (Queen Elizabeth II Field) Jubilee Green rather than at the Willow Brook Centre.

  3. This again, really? What is the obsession with a memorial here in Bradley Stoke?

    How much is the project in total? Assuming more than the £3k pledged by the Willow Brook Centre based on wording.

    If the urge is there for spending money on some kind of recognition to the armed forces, why not just donate it to a good cause that will actually have a positive impact? Help with injury rehabilitation or the like?

  4. This what Cllr Ben Walker had to say on Twitter after tonight’s area forum meeting:

    “Another poor show from South Glos #Tories who stall decision for a mainly privately funded new war memorial, just because it’s a #UKIP idea!”

  5. I agree with comments that as a new town, we luckily have no fallen armed forces but….I do feel that considering the elderly population living within the town, it would be nice if they had somewhere close by to remember those they have lost and all they have been through.
    I do feel that Willow Brook is completely unsuitable though! As a huge corporation that has almost taken over Bradley Stoke! And 3K donation in comparison to the amount of revenue they make from BS residents is sadly laughable!
    Maybe Jubilee area would be better and maybe those concerned could organise fund raising events towards the cause?

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